Hardcore Offer Mixed Verdict At Xbox 360 Zero Hour

News for nerds writes "Next Generation magazine runs a quick report for the Xbox 360 Zero Hour launch event. According to avid Xbox fans joining the party in Mojave Desert, while games to be released in mid 2006 such as Gears of War and Ninety Nine Nights got positive reviews, the initial offers on 360 couldn't impress them as much." Kotaku has a pair of photo essays from the event.

Comments

Perfect Dark

[kannibal_klown]

The only game on the initial list that tickles-my-fancy is the Perfect Dark sequel. I loved the original.

Beyond that, nothing really looks that interesting and I would probably never buy most of the games the most basic "bundles" come with.

Lack of launch title quality = hype

[the computer guy nex]

I've personally played Kameo, Perfect Dark Zero, and Call of Duty2. Without even touching the rest (including PGR3 which is receiving near perfect reviews) this is easily the best release lineup for a modern console.

The goal of a release lineup is to have enough games up front to be worth the early investment. There have been people lined up since before noon today at my local Best Buy - so I think the 360 has gone above and beyond that.

Re:Lack of launch title quality = hype

[bigman2003]

I've got mixed feelings about the whole thing...but in general I am looking forward to it.

True, there is no title of the 18 that I am *really* excited about. PGR3 might be a '10' but I'm not a PGR fan. Burnout Revenge (which I am a fan of) isn't really utilizing the hardware, so I'm not that excited...since I already played it on my Xbox.

But- I just finished playing Far Cry on my Xbox. Great game. Huge maps, good graphics, played real well. If that game had come out 4 years ago, I would have crapped my pants.

So...I'm looking forward to what we'll be playing 4 years from now. Today's 360 games ARE an improvement over other consoles...sure, they aren't earth-shattering. But given time, the designers will make as much progress as they did for Far Cry...and we'll look back on the first Xbox and wonder how we ever managed.

On the other hand...I didn't pre-order, because I didn't want to buy a bundle. But I will be out in front of Wal*Mart tomorrow...then Target if necessary to pick up a 360. Playing Far Cry really showed me that we have come a long way...and given the right hardware, we can go a lot further.

Re:Lack of launch title quality = hype

[Anonymous Coward]

Quality wise I would agree with you that there are more games at a reasonable quality being released for the 360 than any other recently released system; at the same time I would say that the XBox 360's line-up is pathetic display when it comes to variety. Microsoft has brought several good first person shooters (Quake 4, Perfect Dark Zero, etc.), and some good racing games (PGR3, Ridge Racer, Need For Speed) but is there anything special beyond that?

The fact is that I have never seen such a ridgid line-up; if you can play 3 first person shooters or 3 racing games at the same time the system is probably great for you. There is nothing that even comes close to apealing to anyone except for current hard core XBox fans. Microsoft may want to lead the market but they have shown no capability to do so, to sell 100 Million units and have the 'Billion' users they want they will first need to produce and attract games that apeal to more than the 15-25 year old insecure male market.

Re:Lack of launch title quality = hype

[RoadDoggFL]

Amped 3, Condemned, Kameo... the launch lineup's not as barren as you imply. It's not like any other consoles have ever launched with anything impressive. And for god's sake, Smash TV is available for the thing!

Re:Lack of launch title quality = hype

[KDR_11k]

If you only buy it for future software anyway, why not wait until that software is available?

Re:Lack of launch title quality = hype

[bigman2003]

Well, just to let you know, I didn't end up getting an Xbox 360.

The Wal*Mart near my house (read about my town in my sig) was only allotted 10 360's. I thought I'd be able to get one, by showing up an hour early. So did a few other guys who live in town. There would have been about 5 of us.

But- there is a University in a neighboring town, full of students. So, they were lined up in front of Wal*Mart...because they're kids, and kids do that sort of thing. (I woke up at 5:00, and considered what would be better- going to sleep, owning an Xbox 360, or maybe just dying right there.)

I hung out for about 20 minutes. The guys in front of me were all pretty cool (I was last in line.) They told me that all of the Xboxes were spoken for, and people had put their names down on a list. But we just hung out, just in case some miracle happened, and a truckload of 360s came into the parking lot. Honestly, a few times a truck's air breaks squealed, and we all turned, hoping that Santa had come early.

But the thing that caused even us die-hards to lose faith, was when the Wal*Mart employees came out with a stack of papers. One per Xbox. Well, they really did only have 10- no miracle truck in sight. Then the woman started read names...and a glint of a miracle showed up. Two of the people were gone! So now numbers 11 and 12 would get an Xbox. She called those names, and two kids I hadn't noticed previously came out of the woodwork. Damn, two more college kids. None of the locals (townies if you want..) would get one.

After about 30 seconds, the two kids whose names had been called early showed up. As one kid was walking in, I said, "Are you Jason?" He said,
"Yeah." I told him, "Well dude, you're fucked. They just gave your Xbox away."

So, I left just then. Nobody I cared about was getting an Xbox, and even the possibility of a fight between Jason, and number 11 or 12 didn't really matter. They were just college kids, and they'd be out of town within 10 minutes.

second person perspective?

[kaptron]

The graphics were dazzling, better than anything on the show floor. The second person style gameplay looked equally as exciting.

I haven't heard much about Gears of War (other than "OMG ITS GONNA BE AWSUMM!!!") but I'm assuming they meant third person perspective. Second person perspective is a narrative form that is pretty much already assumed while you are playing any video game.

Other launch titles didn't seem to impress gamers much. Tony Hawk: American Wasteland was barely touched and Sega's Condemned didn't have many players either. After a while, Kameo started to bring in a crowd of gamers who curiously watched, but didn't actually try the game out.

I found it interesting that people would go to this xbox 360 zero hour event and not even bother playing these launch titles... I mean, Condemned or Kameo may not have looked groundbreaking; but if I was at the event, I would have at least played them, as opposed to just curiously watching. Maybe that's just me. Not that I am at all surprised that the general summary of people's initial reactions to some of these titles was "same game, better graphics". Hopefully games like Gears of War and 99 Nights live up to being worthwhile games, I'm curious what the first batch of good (read: not just pretty) next gen games will be like.

Re:second person perspective?

[HTH NE1]

I thought a second person shooter would put the POV as that of the target. Which would only work if the person you're trying to shoot is also trying to shoot you, so you have some chance to see where you're aiming.

Re:second person perspective?

[MorgyTheMole]

The developer has said he was being coy about that, as the mechanics of the game are somewhat of a mix of first and third person perspectives. 1+3/2=2 :-)

Re:second person perspective?

[RoadDoggFL]

It would. The article he linked to made the mistake of associating the terms first person shooter and third person shooter with the literary terms first, second, and third person.

Again, the term used in gaming is more akin to the grammatical use of first, second, and third person in refer to the placement of the camera. Both articles linked (by the grandparent and TFA) use the term wrong since TFA seems to think it means that the camera's closer than third person but you can still see the character so it's not first person.

Jeez.

Re:second person perspective?

[Riddlefox]

I think it's actually 2.5 :)

Re:second person perspective?

[mink]

In Psychonauts you have to do this a couple of times. You can not see your target, they can see you. So you use claravoiance to see what they see and move/attack from their POV.

Let's just get this out of the way

[snuf23]

Xbox fan: Microsoft is going to rule the online space with Xbox 360. The HD era of gaming is here RIGHT now and DVDs provide plenty of space for all that great content. While the Xbox was a good first start, the 360 is going to take the market by storm.

Sony fan: Yeah a PAY online service. What I have to PAY for the system and the game and I can't even play it online unless I PAY some more? The Xbox hardware is so pathetically underpowered compared to the Cell. As Sony will tell you, the PS3 with the Cell processor is considerably more important than the second coming of Christ. It will make gaming transcend gaming and games will go beyond gaming to become the pinnacle state of nirvana. It's going to rule so hard in a year no one will remember the Xbox.

Xbox fan: Two words: Halo 3

Sony fan: One word: overrated. Notice you only have one good game on the Xbox? ONE. Compared to the millions of titles available on PS2 which will be coming to PS3 in new even more awesomer forms.

Nintendo fan: Yeah but none of the games are FUN to play. Nintendo invented fun back in the 1600s and has made an art of refining it. Everything on the other systems is derivative of a Nintendo product. Just without cool characters like Mario and Peach (she's so cute). Sony and Microsoft couldn't innovate themselves out of a box. The Revolution will be televised. Inexpensive, innovative, interactive and FUN.

Sony Fan: Hahaha sure what will the launch title be? Mario Foosball?

Xbox Fan: LOL N00B! Yeah I liked Nintendo, back when I wore diapers.

Nintendo Fan: Laugh all you want while I'm enjoying games that can't be ported to your silly game pad based consoles.

PC Gamer: STFU all of you. HD era? You mean playing games at higher than 640x480 resolution. You make me laugh. Gamepads? Wireless wands? The mouse and keyboard are the ultimate controllers. Oh yeah and I can update my hardware while you're stuck for five years with the same old crap. Rule the online space? Sorry that battle was one on by the PC years ago. I got all the major TLAs: RPGs, MMOs, RTS, FPS.

Console Fans: Sure if you like to spend ten times the cost of a console just to play games? And deal with Windows crapping out while you play! And drivers that need to be updated! No thank you!

Linux Gamer: Frozen Bubble anyone? Round of Tux Racer?

Re:Let's just get this out of the way

[Deltaspectre]

You forgot the Mac Gamer

Oh wait, those don't exist

Re:Let's just get this out of the way

[snuf23]

You're right I did. What the heck would they say?

Mac Gamer: All of the good PC games get ported to the Mac and none of the bad ones. We get the cream of the crop without having to endure using Windows.

PC Gamer: Sure you do - a YEAR after they are released on the PC. So you can jump online and get your ass handed to you by people who have been playing the game for a YEAR. Not mention the lack of MMOs on the Mac.

Mac Gamer: Who cares? World of Warcraft is the greatest game of all time. Thank God Sony Online Entertainment hasn't ported their bug fests over to our pristine platform.

Sony Fan: Hey!

Pen and paper RPG gamer: You guys have no imagination. My mind makes better graphics than anything your technology could produce.

Everyone else: You'll need that imagination inventing fantasies to wank off to, considering you'll never get laid.

BTW - sucks you got modded flamebait, certain people in this community have no sense of humor.

Re:Let's just get this out of the way

[Deltaspectre]

I don't know.... a 0, Funny does have its charms

A little pricey?

[daviddennis]

Didn't the original Xbox and PS2 cost in the $200-250 range? I seem to remember something like $250 and then a rapid descent to $199 and then to $99.

So it seems brain-dead to charge $399 for a console unless you're just going to hardcore customers and leaving everyone else out in the cold.

With the PS3 allegedly at $300 I see a lot of reasons to sit back and wait.

Well, other than the fact that you have to give your kid SOME kind of snazzy Christmas gift and the Xbox is available. In that way, it seems like MS has really outmanuvered Sony.

But still ... this thing's pricey. Color me a big-time skeptic.

D

Re:A little pricey?

[snuf23]

"With the PS3 allegedly at $300 I see a lot of reasons to sit back and wait."

Allegedly is the right word. Right now the PS3 could allegedly cost $5 and come with a free can of franks and beans. It's all speculation.
I think it probably depends on how successful the 360 is between now and the PS3 launch. If it does well and the price drops to $300 by the PS3 launch, then I think you will likely see a cheaper PS3. If it makes sense for Sony to take more of a hit on hardware cost to compete side by side - I'm sure they will do it.
If the 360 doesn't do well, then they'll probably charge whatever they feel like.

Re:A little pricey?

[Quixotic]

nope, both xbox and ps2 came out at $300.

Selective memory

[PhoenixOne]

The PS2 launched at $299 (without a memory card). If the PS3 ends up being $300, they are screwing you for a whole extra buck. ;)

Xbox 360 Crash!!! BSOD (Black)

[Anonymous Coward]

With retail XBox360, with all default settings and on first lap of race track on Project Gotham Racing 3, single player, crashed 3 times in a row.
So far haven't been able to play one track without crashing...

Here are some screenshots:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/80491849@N00/65990154 /
http://www.flickr.com/photos/80491849@N00/65990156 /
http://www.flickr.com/photos/80491849@N00/65990158 /
http://www.flickr.com/photos/80491849@N00/65990159 /
http://www.flickr.com/photos/80491849@N00/65995966 /
http://www.flickr.com/photos/80491849@N00/65995967 /

Re:FUD alert

[OMGtehRed]

FUCK YOU NIGGERS